Welcome to Church Society online. We are a fellowship contending to reform and renew the Church of England in biblical faith. On this website, you will find details of our conferences, publications and other resources, as well as our regularly updated blog and weekly podcast.

The latest Church Society publication is an exposition of the biblical teaching on contending for the faith, together with numerous stories of contending in the contemporary Church of England, and Bible study resources.

As the new Church Society slogan declares, “We are a fellowship contending to reform and renew the Church of England in biblical faith.” Contending for the faith is at the heart of Church Society’s work, but in fact it is a task given to every Christian. We pray for those who are baptised to “Fight valiantly as a disciple of Christ against sin, the world and the devil, and remain faithful to Christ to the end of your life.” Jude writes to “those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ”, urging them to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” (Jude 2,3).

Contending is not something we can leave to other people. In this book, Lee Gatiss examines the Bible’s teaching to see what it means to contend for the faith, when we must do it, how we go about it, what our manner should be, and what the goal of contending must be. In addition, he then considers how this teaching should be applied in the contemporary context of the Church of England. A third section of the book includes stories of contending from a wide variety of people, lay and ordained, in different contexts and facing different kinds of opposition. Finally there is a series of eight interactive Bible studies which could be used by individuals or in small groups, to help us understand and apply this teaching in specific situations.

Fight Valiantly! can be purchased here and there are discounted rates for orders of five or more copies.

In this episode of the podcast, Ros visits the Bishop Jewel Society in Oxford, talks to Vaughan Roberts, hears from a couple of current students, and tells us all why lay people are so important in the Church of England.

How to listen to the Church Society podcast:
1. Listen to the episodes as they are posted here on the website.
2. Listen to all the episodes and all other Church Society audio resources via Soundcloud.
3. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
4. Subscribe to the podcast on an Android device (phone or tablet). You will need to install a podcast app and then subscribe via our RSS feed here.